Great! thank you Petr for finding this "easter egg" :)
I've looked so strongly on SOIC that I didn't even mention a socketed bios,
especially if it would be hidden in a housing..
One have to open the grey plastic box to access the not even soldered 64Mbit 
Bios chip

https://pasteboard.co/JJl7Wts.png

Without your help I would have given up :))



Could you give me a hint, how this type of Rom could be handled ?

Am 12.01.21 um 20:03 schrieb Petr Cvek:
> lol I've found it :-D it's not a chip, it's actually a socket
>
> right of wifi https://pasteboard.co/JJknICr.jpg "BIOS ROM" on PCB
>
> Petr
>
> Dne 12. 01. 21 v 19:14 Peter Mueller napsal(a):
>> Yes, I have removed all strips, ram and extension cards, so I have seen all 
>> SOIC8 chips on the board.
>> But this is what I do not understand, I find no more then I showed in the 
>> pics. I will
>> send some more/better pics, so you could see more details. I removed all 
>> strips and extensions, where any
>> SOIC like chip is located, the other strips and extensions I put back before 
>> making the pictures.
>>
>> Here are all images in high res, that I have made.
>>
>> https://pasteboard.co/JJklNqI.jpg
>> https://pasteboard.co/JJknICr.jpg
>> https://pasteboard.co/JJkovSn.jpg
>> https://pasteboard.co/JJkoX3I.jpg
>> https://pasteboard.co/JJkpubK.jpg
>> https://pasteboard.co/JJkpYwS.jpg
>> https://pasteboard.co/JJkqp7Ai.jpg
>> https://pasteboard.co/JJkqYgH.jpg
>> https://pasteboard.co/JJkrSsC.png
>> https://pasteboard.co/JJksajd.jpg
>>
>> It puzzles me, that I could not even find out where the fw image is stored. 
>> This will probably mean that
>> there will be no secure (extern) flashing process, if no core boot, not even 
>> disable ME, if I did not miss
>> something..
>>
>> I have seen that some coreboot tutorial ( I think for a thinkpad x220, but 
>> not shure ) mentioned that the
>> 12 MB firmware of the system was physically joined by 2 chips (8+4MB) to a 
>> virtual flash chip.
>>
>> Is it possible that
>>
>> a) the 8MB  flash is assembled by part of the 12 pieces of M B07 N03 EKH 
>> 1409 ?
>> b) or it is stored in another non SOIC 8 format ?
>> c) or even part of the intel cpu /chipset ?
>>
>> Sorry for asking maybe not sensible questions, I have yet too few knowledge 
>> on these
>> bios hardware concepts.
>>
>>
>>
>> Am 12.01.21 um 17:45 schrieb Petr Cvek:
>>> Did you looked under black isolation stripes?
>>>
>>> There is one soic-8 at the top of this photo 
>>>
>>> https://pasteboard.co/JJjRjLU.jpg
>> This is one more "unmarked" of the smaller SOIC8 I labeled with "b"
>> b - 12 pieces of SOIC8 150mil (or samller?) : M B07 N03 EKH 1409 (Macronix? 
>> could not find anything:/ )
>>
>>> next to superio U49. There can be more chips under expansion cards.
>>>
>>> BTW you can eliminate chips which doesn't have the standard SPI pinout (for 
>>> example you can try measure continuity test for GND pin of the SPI - this 
>>> can be done safely on unpowered board, other can be Vcc, maybe clock).
>>>
>>> Petr
>>>
>>> Dne 12. 01. 21 v 17:25 [email protected] napsal(a):
>>>> Hello coreboot community,
>>>>
>>>> as an open source fan I recently get to know coreboot and really like the 
>>>> idea behind.
>>>> Sadly I bought my computer HW before learning more on libre friendly 
>>>> hardware that
>>>> respects your freedom. Now I try to figure out if I could do one or both of
>>>> a) installing coreboot , b) remove /disable ME from my zotac mini PC,
>>>> or I had to look out for already supported HW to do so.
>>>>
>>>> I use a zotac CI 640 nano fanless mini PC with kaby lake Intel Core 
>>>> i5-8250U and intel
>>>> UHD grafics. https://www.zotac.com/product/mini_pcs/ci640-nano#spec
>>>>
>>>> In the process of cleaning FW I got stuck while figuring out, what is the 
>>>> relevant flash IC
>>>> storing the bios. Form running linux I could read an 8MB flashrom with 
>>>> flashrom tool and
>>>> internal programmer.
>>>>
>>>> While reading, flashrom reported chipset "Intel Kaby Lake U w/ iHDCP2.2 
>>>> Prem."
>>>> and gave the warning "SPI configuration lockdown activated".  The 
>>>> programmer
>>>> flashchip was reported as "Opaque flash chip" 8192kB.
>>>> At least ME Cleaner worked with not errors on the captured fw image.
>>>>
>>>> Problem: I want to flash the modified image back to the IC using a 
>>>> raspberry 4b
>>>> with gpio spi setup using a SOIC8 clip. But I could not manage to find the 
>>>> correct
>>>> IC on the mainboard. I kept looking for SOIC8 200mil with some "25" 
>>>> signature
>>>> and found only a GD25Q20C(2M-bit)Serial flash chip, that I could 
>>>> successfully
>>>> read with raspberry spi setup. However, it contains only 256k data. 
>>>> strings showed
>>>> me lots of HDMI related stuff.
>>>>
>>>> I have created a list of chips I found while disassembling and some pics.
>>>> I hope that someone more experienced could explain me how the 8MB fw is
>>>> stored on this zotac and if it is "safely" possible to rewrite it. I it is 
>>>> to difficult or
>>>> dangerous, as beginner I will stick with new hardware from already 
>>>> supported
>>>> hw list.
>>>>
>>>> The "promising" IC chips I found were
>>>> a - 1 piece of "G labeled" AH1815 25Q2 1BT EE455, I think it is related to 
>>>> the
>>>>      GigaDevice GD25Q20C(2M-bit)I found on web.  this chip I managed to 
>>>> read out..
>>>> b - 12 pieces of SOIC8 150mil (or samller?) : M B07 N03 EKH 1409 
>>>> (Macronix? could not find anything:/ )
>>>> c - 1 piece of Issi  IS25LQ020: 256K x 8 (2 Mbit) (maybe related to USB-C 
>>>> extension module)
>>>> d - 1 piece of RT9059 GSP6E TOC, which I think could be a RichTek ultra 
>>>> low power voltage regulator?
>>>> e - 4 pieces of "P labeled" 6982 GA9C1E ICs, I do not know what they are, 
>>>> maybe some MOSFET?
>>>> f  - 1 piece of "P labeled" 4435 GL9B2E SOIC8 200mil which I know nothing 
>>>> about
>>>>
>>>> Pics of the mainboard front and back are here:
>>>> https://pasteboard.co/JJjQqQO.jpg
>>>> https://pasteboard.co/JJjRjLU.jpg
>>>> https://pasteboard.co/JJjRCDt.jpg
>>>>
>>>> Any suggestion how to go on or stop it anyway would be appreciated.
>>>>
>>>> kind regards,
>>>>
>>>> Peter Mueller
>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>> coreboot mailing list -- [email protected]
>>>> To unsubscribe send an email to [email protected]


_______________________________________________
coreboot mailing list -- [email protected]
To unsubscribe send an email to [email protected]

Reply via email to